Why Father Christmas comes to Narnia
by meldahlie
Summary: Every Christmas Eve, King Frank tells the same story. For why does that jolly, bewhiskered Old Saint include Narnia in his rounds?


Why Father Christmas comes to Narnia

Every Christmas Eve, King Frank tells the same story. For why does that jolly, bewhiskered Old Saint include Narnia in his rounds?

~:~:~:~

"Now," said King Frank of Narnia. "Is everybody sitting comfortably?"

There was loud and eager assent from the princes and princesses ranged around Father on their stools, or in the case of Prince Michael and Prince James, lying on the hearth rug. Even Princess Beatrice, sitting on the Queen's lap, crowed and waved her hands.

"That's good." King Frank paused, and twinkled a smile at them all. "What story shall we have, then?"

At this, there was uproar: splutters of indignation from Prince David and Princess Margaret; squeals of anxiety from all the younger children. Princess Theodora slid off her stool and hurried over to pull on Father's arm until his ear came down low enough to whisper into. "The Farvver Chris'mus one!" she hissed loudly. "You've forgotten!"

"The Father Christmas one?" King Frank echoed. "But we had that last year! And the year before!"

Princess Theodora's lip trembled. "Frank," said the Queen reprovingly. "Stop teasing them and tell the story. Or you won't be done before-"

She stopped. The King chuckled. "As your Majesty commands. Come on, Theodora, you were quite right. I'd forgotten. Come sit on my knee and then you can prompt me if I forget any more." She scrambled up, and there was a brief shuffle for a mutually comfortable position. "Right, now? The story of Why Father Christmas Comes To Narnia."

"Once, long ago, longer ago than even Prince David can remember, there was a Queen in Narnia. She was young and beautiful, which are good things for a queen. But more importantly, she was good. Everybody in Narnia knew the Queen didn't have favourites. She treated all the creatures, talking and dumb, as if they were the most important in the world, and everybody in Narnia, from the King to the youngest talking rabbit, loved her for it.

Now the Queen did have a best friend, in the wise she-elephant. In the other place, before she'd come to Narnia, the Queen had had lots of friends. They used to chat over their washing lines, and I suppose after the she-elephant rescued the Queen's washing when it blew away into the top of an oak tree, the same sort of thing happened. The Queen would hang her washing out, and the she-elephant would come and chat over the top of it.

One day, the Queen didn't answer when the she-elephant said hello. She said it softly: "Hello?" She said it loudly: "Hello!" And when the Queen still didn't say anything but just stood there clutching a damp sheet to her chest and staring at the washing line, the she-elephant got quite worried. She put all the nose she could into it: "HELLO!"

"Oh!" said the Queen, possibly a bit startled. "I didn't hear you coming. I was just thinking about winter. And Christmas."

Now, the she-elephant knew a bit about winter, because we could see snow up on the Western mountains, and we'd had one or two mornings of frost, but nothing unpleasantly cold, because it's always warm by the Tree. But she had never heard of the other thing. So she sucked the damp sheet out of the Queen's grasp, before the Queen got any damper from clutching it, and spread it over the line, and then she asked: "What's Christmas?""

"Today," said Prince Edward earnestly, which made King Frank laugh.

"Yes. But what is it?"

Such a definition was beyond the prince. King Frank leaned round Theodora and ruffled Edward's hair. "The Queen was at almost as much of a loss. "It's – it's a day," she said. "Just after the darkest bit of the winter. It's really Aslan's birthday, in the other place, but everybody marks it by giving presents to each other and having feasts for each other, because that's what He'd like. Everywhere is decorated with greenery, and Father Christmas goes round to distribute the presents. And," the queen finished up with a sigh, "Frank and I didn't have anybody particular left to have feasts with, but I _had_ made Frank a big red woolly muffler, to keep him warm on the cab seat. And I know we have everything we need here, but I was just wishing Frank could have that muffler."

The queen seemed really quite sad about it, but only just knowing about Christmas, the she-elephant didn't really know what to say. So she helped hang up the rest of the washing, and then the Queen said "Thank you" and went indoors again, and the she-elephant went off to have a think. Now, some people find it helps to scratch a little, while thinking, and the she-elephant is one of them. Having such a big, long nose, she could scratch a lot of places, so she scratched behind one ear, and then behind the other ear, and then her back, and her side, and between her toes and down her forehead and all the time, she _thought._ She thought and scratched so long and hard the Jackdaw flew down to ask if she had fleas, and needed a bird or two to come and pick her over.

"Of course I haven't got fleas," said the she-elephant with some dignity. "Some of us have noses suited to taking proper washes, not splashing about in a puddle! I was thinking about Christmas."

"What's Christmas?" asked the jackdaw. "Is it a joke? It would be the – let me see – seven hundred and twenty-third joke." He spread out his wings and counted up on his flight feathers again. "Everybody tells me about the jokes, you know," he added. "But I can't remember if the tapir told me of the same one as the bulldog did, which would make it only the seven hundred and twenty-second joke since the world began."

"Well, it isn't a joke," said the she-elephant. "It's something the Queen's worried about." She had to explain it to him twice, but that was nothing compared to the four times it had to be explained before the bull elephant got it, and everybody quite lost track of how many times the rabbits had to be told before they understood, though I believe the littlest dryad grasped it on the first telling. All over Narnia, everybody told everybody else about Christmas and they all agreed, something ought to be done about it.

It was Fledge who had the idea. "Aslan likes to be asked," he said. "Let's ask Him."

Aslan hadn't been seen in Narnia for a while, but they all knew that He came from over the sea, so they would just go down to the shore and ask in that direction. Everybody wanted to be the ones to ask, but the bull elephant felt we would notice, and possibly be worried by, great crowds going past. So they all thought some more, and then Fledge suggested that since the elephants and the Jackdaw had been the first with the idea, they should get to ask. They made him come too, and I believe the littlest dryad tagged along at the back, because she wanted to see Aslan if He came.

So they went down to the shore, and the elephants raised their trunks to trumpet and Fledge flung back his head to whinny and the littlest dryad cupped her hands round her mouth, because she knew her shout would be drowned out but she rather felt it would still matter to Aslan if she'd tried. But before anyone could make a noise, while they were all standing there, looking towards the east, Aslan was suddenly there among them." King Frank paused.

"And what happened?" asked Prince Michael breathlessly.

"Well, what passes between an elephant and the Great Lion is a matter between them alone. No-one is ever told anything but their own story, you know. All we knew of it was afterwards, for on Christmas Day itself who should come jingling up to our door but Father Christmas? And what was the first thing he handed out of that sleigh but the red woolly muffler? "I'll come on Christmas Eve in future, Your Majesties," he said, doffing his big red hat to Queen Helen, "but I'd a long way to go to fetch that one. Aslan sent me for it; said all the Beasts were most particular you should have it, and a Merry Christmas too!" And that is why Father Christmas comes to Narnia."

"Because of the she-nelly-fant?" queried Princess Theodora as King Frank leaned back in his chair with a tale-ending sigh.

"And the bull elephant!" Prince Michael added.

"And the jackdaw!" said Prince James, who liked jokes.

"An' Fledge!" Prince Edward piped up.

"And the littlest dryad!" Princess Katherine put in with empathetic shyness.

"And the muffler!" Prince David added wisely.

"And Mother!" Princess Margaret countered.

"And Aslan," said King Frank, kissing his wife on the cheek. "Now, does anyone else hear sleigh bells?"

~:~ The End ~:~

 _A/N: Last Sunday in Advent..._


End file.
